Aryan's pov:

Azaan bhai gets off on his floor, leaving me alone.

All of our rooms were on different floors for some reason and mine was on the highest.

The door opens to my floor so I get out when I bump into someone and get drenched by juice.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! Oh, you? What are you doing here?" Karya's voice changed from sorry to annoyed.

"My room is on this floor."

"What? Why?"

"Why not?"

"You're so annoying!"

"I believe I'm not the one throwing things at everyone."

"That was an accident! I said I'm sorry."

"Since my dear curry is apologising so nicely, apology accepted."

"I don't have time to waste on you, I need to go." she shoves me to the side and goes inside the lift.

She hasn't changed a bit. Still the same person who used to be so competitive in high school. The same person who used to bicker with me while being quiet the rest of the time. The same person who sat beside me in class.

The whole reason I got through high school. My first love. My only love.

I wonder when I'll have the courage to tell her. Definitely not anytime soon though.

I take a shower and change as I was soaked in juice because of a special someone.

Her thoughts keep rushing back. 

Flashback to 7 years ago*

"I swear I will beat you in the debate today!" Karya sits beside me and glares at me.

"Let's see you try curry."

"I told you not to call me that!"

"What? Can't even give my dearest desk partner a nickname?"

"Who calls a person curry? I'm not a food! I'm a human."

"I could argue with the last senten-" she doesn't let me finish as she bashes me with her notebook.

"Ouch!"

"That's what you get for calling me curry." She hits me again. "And that is for calling me a non-human creature."

She tries to hit me again but I take her notebook.

"Not so fast curry. Maybe try and focus on how to beat me in the debate for now."

"You!"

Flashback ends*

There was a knock on my door. I was surprised by the knock so I waited to make sure I didn't misheard.

I open the door at the second knock, revealing a worried Karya.

"What happened?" 

"Do you know where the guard on our floor went?"

"No, why?" I was also worried at this point. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Nafisa is gone!"

"Who?"

"My friend Nafisa! You know, the girl who sat beside your brother Azaan."

"Oh her, okay. Wait what? How can she be gone?"

"I don't know. She was sick so I went to get medicines and I came back to see she wasn't there. I'm trying to find the security guard to ask him if he saw her."

I look around to see the guard in the corner, exactly where he is supposed to be. "He is right there?"

"Oh, he wasn't there before. Maybe he came back." she rushes over to him and starts talking to him.

After a few minutes, she comes back with an extra worried face.

"He said he saw her going inside the lift. Oh fuck, where could she be?"

"Did you try to call her?"

"Are you stupid? Obviously! It was turned off!" she facepalms herself.

"Umm, should we tell the others so we can look for her?"

"No, it's Haldi tomorrow. Leave Noor and Aariz out. And Aariz and your oldest brother Ahaan are on the same floor, aren't they? If he gets to know, Aariz might find out as well. Aliyah can't know either. Call Azaan."

She does have a point. But she didn't need to say it in such a roundabout way. The same curry when she is panicked.

"Meet me in my room. Now. It's urgent." I say as soon as he picks up and hang up before he can answer so he has no other choice but to come up.

-

After some time, Azaan's face was finally seen. 

"This better be urgent." he says with the same cold face.

"Yes! Nafisa is missing!" Karya shouts out.

"What?"

"She felt sick so I went out to get medicine. When I came back, she wasn't in the room. And her phone was turned off as well!" 

I've never seen Karya panic this much. It felt nice. Seeing how much she cares for the ones she loves.

"Wait here." Azaan runs off.

Nafisa's pov:

I take out the jacket from the washer, put it inside the dryer and turn it on. 

It would possibly take some time for Karya to find painkillers and heating pads so I could use this time to clean his jacket so I can give it to him as soon as possible.

Why is he always there when something embarrassing happens? What if he fires me one day because I'm too clumsy?

The door of the laundry room bursts open revealing him. Oh God. What is he doing here? Is he firing me already?

"What are you doing here?" he says while trying to calm down. He looked like he ran a hundred-mile race.

"Oh my god. Mr Raihan. Are you okay?" I go up to him.

"I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"I was washing your jacket." It finished drying, so I took it out and gave it to him. My face starts going red. 

Whose face did I see after waking up today that my day was going this bad?

"Go to your room. Your friend is worried about you."

Oh!

She came back? Oh no. She will definitely give me a whole lecture about why I shouldn't have come here.

I can't run, but I walk as fast as I can and go in front of the lift. Mr Raihan follows me and stands to a side.

We both get in as I press the button of my floor. 

The lift was filled with uncomfortable silence.

Me preparing for Karya's bursting. And him, well, I don't know what he is thinking. Maybe how he will fire me. In private or humiliate me in front of others.

I get off the lift and walk up a bit when I see Karya running to me.

"Nafu! Are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt? Did someone do anything?" she started checking my hands to see if I had a bruise.

"I'm fine! I was just umm. I'll tell you later."

"You're so dead!" she takes my hand and starts pulling me towards our room and then looks back to Mr Raihan. Well, Mr Azaan Raihan to be specific as Aryan Raihan was also standing there.

"Thank you so much!" she pulls me into our room and locks the gate.

"You have some explaining to do Miss Nafisa Ayaaz! What happened!" she ordered.

"Relax, I was just, you about what happened on the plane right? I went to the laundry room to wash his jacket. Nothing else."

"And your phone turned off?" she raises her eyebrows.

"I put it on charge. You know I turn my phone off when I put it on charge."

"Seriously Nafu! I was so worried!"

"Sorry." A teardrop fell from my eye. I hated it. Why was I so sensitive? She was shouting because she got worried! And here I am crying like she slapped me or something.

Karya hugged me. "It's okay. Just don't go anywhere at night without informing me okay? Or atleast take your phone!"

"I will. I promise."

"Now. Azaan Raihan. What's his deal?" she says when she breaks the hug.

"What do you mean?"

"He looked so worried when I told him you were missing. I thought you said he was a cold guy? Shouts at his employees, never talks unless necessary and fires anyone who makes the tiniest mistakes."

"He was probably worried about his jacket. He is a cold guy. He shouted at one of his employees right when I was beside him. It scares me every time."

"Worried about his jacket? Sure, if that's what you want to think. And how about before that? When he gave you his jacket? And didn't care about how it was stained?"

"Maybe he was just worried about embarrassing himself! Stop asking these questions! If you're so curious, go and ask him!"

"Okay, okay. I'll stop." she chuckles

"We need to go to bed. It's Noor's haldi tomorrow!" I say so she doesn't have any more chance to  ask about him.

Aariz's pov:

If someone told me two months ago that I was getting married, I'd laugh at them. Right now, I'm not in a situation to laugh. 

A few hours? A few hours! The Haldi is in a few hours!

Sometimes I regret it. Everything.

If I didn't want to be an actor then I wouldn't have made the promise. if I didn't make the promise then I didn't have to agree to the marriage. If I didn't agree, then i possibly wouldn't be in so much confusion.

What was happening to me?

There was a knock which surprised me.

It's 1:48. Who is here at this time of the night?

I open the door to see Ahaan bhai standing.

"What are you doing?" I ask him in confusion.

"I'd like to ask you the same thing."

"What do you mean?" I stare at him in confusion.

"The Haldi is tomorrow. And you're still awake?"

"I couldn't sleep. Anyways. What are you doing here?"

"Break the wedding."

"What?" I almost gasped in shock.

"I can't find a girl in 2 months. It's impossible."

"You should've been careful while promising then. I promised Ma! That if she lets me be an actor I'd do what she wants. You did what you needed to do to achieve your dream. I did what I needed to do to achieve my dream. I can't break the wedding!"

"How will I find someone in 2 months? I'm not even worrying about love! I just want someone who would be able to marry me for the show, maybe stay for a year or two and then leave so I can live in peace."

"Then just go up to anyone and ask if they'll marry you. Maybe offer them something in return? I'm not breaking the marriage. I'm sticking to my promises. Remember what Ma says? Raihans-"

He cuts me off. "Keep their promises. I know for goodness sake!" he turns around and leaves.

I close the door and crash into my bed. Though sleep was still far away. Maybe stuck in traffic.

'Just because of the favour Aariz.'

I keep repeating it like a Motto.

'Just because of the favour Aariz.'

'Just because of the favour Aariz.'

'Just because of the favour Aariz. Do not get your feelings mixed up.'

Thank you for reading <3